Stumbling upon ruins, the ethereal phoenix

Chen Yuan stepped out with his right foot, standing atop the lake, and summoned his mo you sword.

A Frost Sword Domain rose from beneath his feet, and the entire lake rapidly froze at a visible speed.

Outside, in the main hall of the Xuantian Sect.

The Core Elders rose from their seats in shock.

From the light screen before them, they clearly saw the Sword Domain Chen Yuan had unleashed.

How could they not be shocked? The Dao of the Sword was extremely difficult to Cultivate; some people might not even enter the first Realm of the Dao of the Sword in their entire lives.

"A Sword Domain! This kid is actually a Sword Cultivator?" Elder Yuan ZhouGang's eyes nearly popped out. "How old is this kid?"

Sect Master Song Yuanji looked at Leng Youmeng, who was equally stunned, and thought to himself: 'Keep pretending, just keep pretending.'

He didn't believe Leng Youmeng was unaware that Chen Yuan's Dao of the Sword had reached the Fourth Realm.

When the Elders looked at the light screen again, Chen Yuan's figure had already vanished.

The Elders' expressions changed. There was only one possibility: Chen Yuan had entered an undeveloped ruin within the Xuanhuang Secret Realm.

Inside the Secret Realm, the world quietly darkened.

Chen Yuan leaped over the lake, and what greeted his eyes was a canyon.

Suddenly, the canyon was obscured by mist, and a bridge abruptly appeared ahead.

A hint of doubt arose in Chen Yuan's heart.

Earlier, when he read the 'Xuantian Sect History Records' at his Senior Sister's place, he had read about this Xuanhuang Secret Realm.

The Xuanhuang Secret Realm had been taken by the Old Ancestor ten thousand years ago, and many ruins within it were still undeveloped and unexplored.

Could it be that this canyon was precisely the site of those ruins?

Chen Yuan stepped out, leaping onto the bridge. Beneath the bridge was an inky blackness, bottomless, with black mist rising from below, emitting rustling sounds.

Suddenly, the scene before him changed, and the pre-Cultivation world of his previous life reappeared. Chen Yuan's Divine Sense was greatly shaken; that black mist actually had the effect of influencing one's mind.

The spiritual planks of the bridge underfoot were square, totaling sixteen pieces, some long and some short, unevenly arranged.

Chen Yuan moved cautiously. When he stepped onto the third spiritual plank, he noticed its raised tortoise shell patterns.

He suddenly recalled an Eight Trigrams Formation for refining blood sacrifices he had seen in ancient texts, named Yin Fu Bagua.

Looking closely, every spiritual plank under his feet indeed had tortoise shell patterns.

Chen Yuan carefully recalled the books he had seen at his Senior Sister's place.

"Ordinary Yin Fu use length to convey meaning, so you only need to walk on the long spiritual planks."

Looking back at the first spiritual plank, it was indeed a short one.

The lengths of the fourth to eighth spiritual planks ahead were 'long-short-long-long-short' respectively.

Following the pattern, Chen Yuan successfully stepped onto the seventh spiritual plank.

As he stepped onto the last spiritual plank of the bridge, the mist in the canyon ahead parted, and a Divine Soul attack, like a surging river, suddenly shot forth, plunging into Chen Yuan's glabella.

The Heaven Rank High Grade Soul-Protecting Jade Pendant on Chen Yuan's neck suddenly lit up.

The Divine Soul attack in his mind was also blocked by the Soul-Protecting Light Shield within his Sea of Consciousness, which then reflected a rainbow light that annihilated it into nothingness.

"Hoo~" Chen Yuan suddenly let out a sigh of relief, leaped onto the ground, and lay there panting heavily.

"Finally made it through. Which bastard set up this mechanism?"

If he hadn't had the Heaven Rank High Grade Soul-Protecting Jade Pendant rewarded by the System, he would have truly fallen here today.

Chen Yuan adjusted his state, extended his Divine Sense to scan the canyon, and discovered a cave within it.

Inside the cave was a Yao Beast, and that final terrifying Divine Soul attack had been spewed from its mouth.

The Yao Beast's Realm was only at Perfected Nascent Soul Stage, but the Divine Soul attack it released was Fifth-Tier, comparable to Soul Transformation.

This Yao Beast was precisely the Lingxu Demon Phoenix, shaped like a Phoenix, with a magnificent body and feathers displaying vibrant, colorful hues.

"Human, this is not a place you should be," the Lingxu Demon Phoenix spoke human words, warning him.

Chen Yuan was startled, then suddenly smiled. No wonder the Lingxu Demon Phoenix hadn't come out to drive him away earlier; it turned out there was a Yao Beast egg nearby, the size of an ostrich egg, which must be its child.

Since he was already here, how could Chen Yuan leave? He summoned his mo you sword with his right hand, and his feet moved as if treading on white snow, reaching the cave in a few breaths.

Seeing that the Human dared to invade, the Lingxu Demon Phoenix let out a long, roaring cry, spitting out blood-colored flames like spiritual snakes, terrifyingly spraying them towards Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan scoffed, a Frost Sword Domain rising from beneath his feet, enveloping the Lingxu Demon Phoenix.

The fiery spiritual snakes were extinguished by the biting cold wind before they could even touch Chen Yuan's clothes.

The Lingxu Demon Phoenix was inwardly astonished. A wave of icy coldness swept through its entire body, and within the Domain, it felt its strength suppressed by twenty percent.

Creating one's own Domain was a Mahayana method. How could this small Human before it achieve this?

No, it was the sword in his hand.

She had followed her master for nearly ten thousand years and still had this much insight. This person was a Sword Cultivator, a Human Race Prodigy.

"Stop! I surrender!" The Lingxu Demon Phoenix quickly called out to stop him.

"Uh!"

Chen Yuan was a bit confused; he hadn't even started fighting, yet it had already surrendered.

Sensing Chen Yuan's confusion, the Lingxu Demon Phoenix felt a bit awkward. "Human, I can't defeat you."

"Is it that obvious?" Chen Yuan smiled. So the deterrent power of the sword in his hand was that strong!

With that, he retracted his Sword Domain.

The Lingxu Demon Phoenix coughed dryly: "Cough, cough, Human, I have a presumptuous request."

Chen Yuan's vigilance immediately rose. He neither refused nor agreed. "Tell me."

The Lingxu Demon Phoenix sighed, looking at the Yao Phoenix egg with heartache:

"Take my child away from here. I don't want her to be trapped here for a lifetime like me."

Even being a spiritual pet would be better than staying in this dark, sunless place.

Chen Yuan's heart swelled with joy. This was good; participating in a Secret Realm and gaining a spiritual pet was truly a profitable venture.

However, she still had doubts. "Why do you want me to take your child away, and not someone else?"

The Lingxu Demon Phoenix sighed helplessly, "In the past eight thousand years, you are the only Human Race Cultivator who has come here alive."

Chen Yuan nodded. He was also lucky; the Divine Soul influence of the first spiritual plank wasn't strong, but it became more terrifying the further up he went.

"What about you?" Chen Yuan asked.

"The child's father has already passed away. If you take it away, I will have one less attachment. I can continue to guard this place for my master, awaiting the arrival of a fated person."

Chen Yuan keenly caught the crucial information and asked, "Since I was able to come here, doesn't that mean I am the fated person?"

The Lingxu Demon Phoenix shook its head, "Although your Cultivation Aptitude is strong, you have no talent in the Dao of Divine Sense."

Then, she pointed her wing at a stone tablet. "This is a Divine Sense testing stone tablet. If you don't believe me, you can go and test it yourself."

Chen Yuan did not act. He was also unsure if he had Divine Sense talent, but instead released his Fourth-Tier Divine Sense pressure.

Feeling the Divine Sense pressure, the Lingxu Demon Phoenix exclaimed in shock, "How is this possible? Your Divine Sense meridian is unopened, how did you Cultivate to Fourth-Tier?"

"Don't worry about that," Chen Yuan waved his hand and asked, "Does this count as having talent?"

"It does, but I observe that your Divine Sense meridian is unopened..."

"Don't worry about that. I observe that your lifespan is limited, and you are at the end of your tether. In fact, you have been enduring all this time, am I right? Since I have talent, give me the Legacy, fulfill your master's wish, and you can also go with your husband and your master. Everyone will be happy!"

Chen Yuan looked at the Yao Beast carcass nearby. Even though it was just a corpse, the pressure emanating from it made Chen Yuan feel a sense of suffocation.

This was just a spiritual pet; he wondered what kind of Heaven-Defying existence the owner of this Secret Realm must have been?